


Reunion

by Darkforesttrails



Category: The Blackout Club (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23917549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkforesttrails/pseuds/Darkforesttrails
Summary: That feeling when you follow Thee-I-Dare and you run into a Lucid, but the Lucid is also your dad.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Reunion

The mission was simple: Grab a few boards with fancy ink blots. Bring them back to HQ. Don’t die in the process. You could never make heads or tails of that junk yourself, but you also aren’t a club leader. Or a fucking nerd, for that matter. 

Like most things in your life, however, the mission was easier in theory than in practice. 

Step one of the plan: scout out the library. Somewhere in the towering shelves, filled to the brim with dust and Rorschach tests, there was bound to be something there the club could use.

Or at least, there _would_ have been if the place wasn’t locked all the way down. 

When your team came creeping down the stairs, nobody expected to find the gates drawn over the library tunnel. You nabbed Erik and tried to lift them up: No luck. Molly tried to punch the gates into submission. As much as you approved of her efforts, they were all for naught. You were also down a bandage after that. Rosa just stared at the barriers like she was trying to move them with her mind or something. Thanks, Rosa. 

“So...what do we do now?” Erik muttered, shoving his hands in his hoodie. He shivered as his breath turned into cold puffs in front of him.

“What do you mean what do we do?” Molly piped up, crossing her arms. “We go out there and we beat some Lucids until they let us inside!”

“Oh hell yeah!” You joined in, excited. You’re always down for a chance to beat up some Lucids. If you had some more eggs, you could just--

“Um…” Rosa added, pawing at the end of her scarf and interrupting your thoughts. She wasn’t looking at any of you as she spoke. 

“We...we could just...um...sp..split...try looking in different places and...find each other later? Maybe?” Her voice was quiet. So quiet that it was almost non-existent in the roaring silence of the cavern. Molly rolled her eyes while Erik leaned forward to hear her, his face scrunched up in concentration. 

“Actually, that’s a great idea.” He offered after a moment, his accent ringing through his words. You always thought it sounded cool. “The cryptograms move, right? There’s four of us, we can cover more ground if we split up. Maybe there’s one in the woods?” 

“That was the weirdest possible way you could have said ‘hey, let’s check Dream Therapy!” You pointed out, snickering. He just paused, his face flushing, and turned down another tunnel before you had time to apologize. Nick had warned you before you left that Erik got flustered easily. Now you just felt guilty for forgetting that. 

“What a whiner.” Molly snorted, all but laughing at you as you shoved her for that one.

“Not cool, Molly!”

“Listen, it’s not my fault if the guy’s got no spine. This is war and we both know he’s as good as dead with that attitude.” Before you had the chance to throw a punch at her, however, she was already climbing a ladder and disappearing into the darkness of the maze. You’ve been petitioning to get her kicked from the club for that bullshit and some part of you hoped she would finally get bored and leave your group entirely. You made a point to make some very rude gestures in her general direction once she was gone. 

“...So, I guess it’s you and me then-” You turned around to face Rosa...only to find no Rosa. You blinked, confused, and craned your neck to study the ceiling. 

“Uh. Rosa? _Rosa?_ ” You cupped your hands over your mouth. “Marco!” 

Your only response was the buzz of the void and a distant drip of cave water. You were alone. 

“Ugh. Great teamwork, guys.” You groaned, rubbing your nose and making a note to apologize to Erik when you saw him again. You stayed where you were for a moment, checking that your flashbangs were close at hand and your tranqs weren’t in danger of stabbing you in the leg. Luckily for those three, you weren’t scared of the maze and you weren’t scared to be alone in the maze. 

At least, you liked to pretend you weren’t scared. Considering how many hours you had spent wandering these cursed halls on your own, you had long lost the right to admit you were scared of the place. But having a surplus of supplies made you feel better. Safer, even.

Sometimes in life, you just have to watch your own back because no one else will. 

You’re sure Thee-I-Dare would help you more if he could, but he has big plans and those are more important than you. Plus, you’ve learned by now that he can’t save you from the monsters under the bed. Even when he gets back together, he still can’t save you. It’s up to you to save yourself and it’s up to you to save him too. 

After checking your supplies and listening for the twang of chords, you called out to the empty room around you. 

“Fine, I’ll go hang out with my _real friends_ in that room over there!” At the risk of attracting attention from some sleepwalking assholes, it just made you feel better to talk to yourself as you snuck through the maze. It made the silence--and the loneliness--more bearable. You could pretend you were safe and sound in one big basement. You could pretend you weren’t in danger of becoming a Sophie-shaped fragment at the bottom of the Throat. 

Somewhere between commentary on the architecture and an animated conversation about the velocity of a rotten egg, it occurred to you that nobody had shown up yet. 

Where were the guards?

Every time you entered this maze, it was packed with Sleepers and Lucids and cameras. The cameras were still running, but you hadn’t seen a single Sleeper yet. And the Lucids? Non-existent. That should have been a comfort to you, but something about the lack of security made you uneasy. You rubbed your arms, feeling the goosebumps rise under your sleeves. You wished it was warmer down there. 

“Hello? Aaaanyone home?” You finally called out, suddenly desperate for any signs of life. You weren’t normally in the business of looking for the baddies on purpose, but this felt...wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. You were on edge and something was telling you that you needed to run and run fast. Your hand went to the tranq dangling from your belt as your muscles tensed. Above you, a wire shivered and sang with the familiar sounds of a warning. 

Somebody had gotten caught.

You needed to find your team and get out, ASAP. 

You had barely taken two steps towards the exit when someone coughed behind you.

“...Sophie?”

You froze, gripping a dart so tightly that your hand shook, as you turned around. You had been hoping to see a Sleeper, slow and dumb and easy to sneak past if you didn’t make any sudden movements. But Sleepers don’t call you by name. 

When you turned around, you found yourself staring into the face--or what was left of the face--of a particularly tall Lucid as he stepped out from behind a pillar. He stared down at you, silent, unmoving. You had taken down Lucids before and you figured you could probably take this guy too. You carried weapons for a reason, after all. 

The fact that he had recognized you from behind, however, had left you still as a stone and made you aware of just how alone you really were right then. It also reminded you why you live in the woods now and only leave them at night. 

“Who’s asking?” You replied, puffing out your chest and trying to keep your voice from shaking. It was a wonder that dart didn’t crack in half from how hard you had wrapped your fingers around it. 

The Lucid blinked with twenty eyes, slowly feeling his face and running a hand over his bald head. He let out a breath, his shoulders slumping. His voice was low, almost defeated-sounding. 

“Oh, that’s right.. You can’t see me right now, can you? Sorry, Sleepyhead. I forgot they did that.” You squinted, taking a step back from him. Sleepyhead?

That was an old nickname of yours, earned after the 3rd time you slept through your alarm and ended up late for school. Nobody calls you that. Nobody’s called you that in years. Nobody ever called you that in the first place except-

“...Dad?” You stared straight ahead, your eyes darting around the Lucid’s face as you tried to pick out anything familiar about him. Your dad wasn’t that tall. And he had a bald spot but he wasn’t that bald. And he wore glasses. And--

And the little voice in your head was still telling you to get the hell out of there. This felt like a trap. Like something bad was going to happen if you stayed there to chat. Your head was screaming at you to move. But your feet were made of lead and glued to the floor. 

The Dad-Lucid stepped forward, his hands raised in surrender. 

“Hi, honey. Yeah, it’s uh. It’s me, I think.” 

“What do you mean’ you think’?” He clicked his tongue, looking over his shoulder. Leaning to the side to follow his gaze, you could see the edge of a warded door just behind the pillar. 

“Yeah, these doors? Let’s just say they take it out of you. Don’t ever go through one, Soph, it’s a mistake.” You stared at the door then back to him, your lip curled in a snarl. Was he for real?

“Well thank god you’re walking through them on purpose then!” You snapped, your voice ringing off the walls. Your father winced, taking a step back, his hands still raised. If you were being honest with yourself, you liked seeing the bad guys run away from you for a change. And the fact that said bad guy was one of your own parents was just icing on the cake. 

“Listen. I know you’re not happy to see me, Sophie. And you know what? That’s my fault. I was never great at being a dad. But it’s been so long since you’ve come home and your mother and I want you to…” He trailed off, looking to the side and going quiet.

“Are you trying to tell me Mom wants me home?” Funny, you could have sworn that old Speaks-As-Shit wasn’t too keen on liars. He stared at you, shifting his weight from foot to foot before he spoke again. 

“It’s been so long since you’ve come home and _I_ want you to come home.” The words rang through your ears, hollow and cold, and you shook your head, backing away from him. Your eyes stung. 

“Well, you should have thought about that before you decided to go and be terrible people!” For added effect, you spat on the ground at his feet. You felt like you might regret that later but for the time being? It felt amazing.

 _‘Let them rot,’_ whispered the voice in your head. You couldn’t agree more. As far as you were concerned, both of them made their beds and they could lie in them. You were trapped and your friends were dying and your folks had just as much blood on their hands as anyone else. Even if you wanted to forgive them, they were well past the point of deserving it. They. Could. **Rot.**

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! I know this is hard for you to understand, but we’re trying to save this town! We’re trying to save you.” His voice rose to match yours. 

_‘He’s lying again. You would know. How can you trust anyone who only wears one sleeve?’_

“I know you joined that club, Sophie. So you must have seen it: your friends fight, don’t they? Over which of their ‘gods’ is the best one to follow?” You paused, your brows furrowing as you looked down. It was true. Your friends did fight sometimes. You’re supposed to be working together, but that’s hard to do when nobody can agree on anything. He continued. 

“And what comes of it? Kids missing. Birds without a head. Blood in the streets. Entire families torn apart. And when the...Angel’s...mercy runs out...” You stiffened, swearing your heart stopped beating in that second. You’ve seen what happens when the Shape gets sick of running after people. It isn’t pretty. Your hands were shaking and you couldn’t breathe. Your vision was going blurry.

He knelt down near you, offering a hand. It was close enough that you could take it, if you wanted to. You stared at your feet, chewing on your lip.

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we really are trying to help you. We’re safe here. We work together. We help each other. I’m sorry things turned out this way. I put you in this mess in the first place and it’s all my fault. But if you’ll just give me a chance to make things right...If you come home, we can be a family again, you and me. We can put all this behind us and everything will be alright.” His voice softened. “You’d never have to be afraid again.” 

That mud on your sneakers sure was interesting right then. The temptation was strong. All you had to do was take one hand and you would have everything back; you would have a home, a bed, a family, a sense of security. You had forgotten what it felt like to be safe. Just take his hand...

_‘That’s not true. Even if I come with you, I’ll always have to be afraid of you. You’d throw us into the fire and call it a cure. I can’t trust you. Why are we even here?’_

He made like he was going to say something else as you debated, but stopped and pointed at your hip instead. 

“Sophie, you didn’t. Oh no. Tell me you’re not... _Sophia-Marie!_ ” You looked up, annoyed and confused, and followed his finger. He wasn’t pointing at your tranqs, which were on your left. He was pointing at your right, where Thee-I-Dare’s mask was hanging from an old piece of cord. The mask was your pride and joy, but the shape of it made it difficult to see when you were wearing it. So you settled for keeping it near you instead. 

“Well, I could tell you I’m not, but that would be a _lie_ and lying is a _sin._ ” Your vision was still blurring, but you couldn’t help but smirk. You were sure your father was making the most horrified face under that disguise. You knew his own so-called god could see that mask too. Good. In your opinion, they needed the reminder that the rebellion was alive and you intended to keep him that way. Speaksy could choke on it. 

Your dad, on the other hand, was grabbing his head and making noises of sheer distress. 

“Oh no, oh no. _Shit._ This is my fault. This is all my fault. I messed up, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry--”

Was he even talking to you anymore?

“Sophie, you need to give me that mask! Now!” He made a grab for it and missed. You shook your head and backed away from him again. Whatever spell he was starting to put on you was broken and now you just wanted away from him. You had been there talking to him way too long. 

“No! It’s mine, go get your own!”

 _‘Leave. You’ve been here too long. Leave. Don’t waste your time with him anymore, your friends need you more. LEAVE.’_

“Do you understand what that is?!” He reached for your shoulders, fingers digging into them as he shook you. You shrieked, raising a foot to kick him in the knee as hard as you could. He stumbled back, taking in a sharp breath of pain. Another wire rang over your head, louder than last time. You should have been worried about that. But at the time, you were too furious to care.

“Whatever you’re trying to accomplish here, you just screwed it up ten times over!.” You screamed at him, grabbing a dart and holding it so the point faced him. Your hands trembled as hard as your voice. “You take one more step and this is going straight where it hurts!” You had no idea where this was coming from. You didn’t actually mean that, did you? That wasn’t what you actually wanted to say...was it? Yet, the words just kept flowing past your lips before you had time to think about it. 

“You know what? If I have it my way, this shit hole of a town is going to burn and you’re going down with it! We’re not here for this brainwashing crap!” 

“You don’t mean that!” Your father screamed back at you. His voice was breaking and he sounded as close to tears as you felt. “Sophie, that’s not you! That violent streak, it’s not you! That’s what the Adversary does! He worms his way into your skull and seeds pure chaos! And then makes you think it was your idea!”

“You’ve never spent much time outside of Redacre, I have. I was born out there. The world outside of here couldn’t be worse if it tried! But it didn’t have to be like that. It could have been great, Sophie. But that voice, that...that Adversary. He ruined everything. He doesn’t care about you or me, all he cares about gaining the upper hand in a war that’s been going on longer than either of us. And he doesn’t care if we get hurt.” 

“Shut up…” You mumbled, feeling a cold chill run through your body. That wasn’t true. You knew it wasn’t true. You talk to Thee-I-Dare. He’s your friend. He doesn’t want to see any of you get hurt. You know he doesn’t. He wants you to survive, he wants you to be safe, he wants you to choose--

Your father was still talking.

_‘This was a trap. They’re coming. You need to leave. Get out.’_

“Is that what you want, Sophie? He’s going to lead you and all your friends right into an early grave! They all will! I know that isn’t what you want! And I know you’re still sticking close to Archer, wherever he is right now, you two were always joined at the hip. Do you want him dead--” 

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP!” You howled at him, flinging the tranq dart his way. It mostly missed, but the tip caught his uncovered arm and left a long scratch. He hissed, his fingers immediately going to the wound. You panted as you reached for another dart, tears streaming down your face. “Shut up, Dad! I don’t want to hear it anymore!” 

“And, for the record, he’s nothing but _choice!_ ” You corrected him, the shaking in your voice now replaced by a hard edge between choked sobs. “He’s made of choice and you’re destroying everything he’s working for! I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to turn into a happy zombie under his folks! I don’t want everything to be decided for me, I want a freaking choice in how my life turns out!” 

“It’s called being a unit! A functioning unit! A functioning unit that watches out for each other! You won’t get that outside of Redacre!” 

“Oh, that’s good to know! Because I sure as hell didn’t get that _in_ Redacre either!” He stopped, going quiet. That was your chance. It was time to push the metaphorical knife deeper in. 

“If you want to help me so badly, the best way to do it is to never speak to me again.” You stood up straight, taking a deep breath only to cough again. “You chose this. You chose all of this--” You gesture to the cavern around you and then point back to the warded door. “--Over me. Anything that happens to me and us is completely your fault and you can live with that. I hope you enjoy your stupid hive god because that’s all the family you have left now.”

_‘He can’t be saved. He’s too far gone, too set in his beliefs, too saturated. Not worth it anymore. He made his choice. **No mercy left to be had.’**_

The silence passed between the two of you for what felt like years. You stared at him. He stared at you. When he finally moved again, it was only to turn his back to you.

“Go.” He said, his voice quiet. “Get out. Don’t come back.” 

Something inside you broke as he said that. Some part of you almost wanted to reach out to him, try to make amends, try to apologize. You didn’t even know why that part of you existed, it shouldn’t have. He was the one who messed up, you didn’t owe him anything. 

“Dad…” 

“I said go, Sophie. They know you’re here.”

“What?”

“I’d say you have about-” His head turned towards the door as another sin wire went off, loud enough to shake the floor this time. Who was messing up out there? “-15 seconds, give or take. Start running.” 

You didn’t think twice after that. 

What you didn’t see as you retreated from the oncoming mass of sleepers was your father pulling out his phone and making a call. 

What you didn’t hear was him whispering to a woman you’d never met. 

_“Was that long enough? What about the rest? Ah, yes ma’am. She’s running east, coordinates…..I’m her father, ma’am. It’s my job to protect her by any means necessary.”_

_Even from herself._


End file.
